SUBANG, March 19 — PLUS Malaysia Bhd (PLUS) anticipates more than 2.2 million vehicles will use its highway network daily during peak periods of the upcoming Aidilfitri festive season.
Its chief operating officer Datuk Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi said peak traffic is expected between March 27 and 29, and April 4 and 6, due to Aidilfitri on March 31 and April 1, and Qing Ming on April 4.
He also said over 70,000 vehicles are set to use the East Coast Expressway 2 (LPT2) during this period.
“As part of our preparations, PLUS will implement three key strategies to facilitate smoother travel on the PLUS and LPT2 highways. These include efficient traffic and incident management, traffic distribution via the MyPLUS-TTA application, and additional public facilities for user convenience.
“Other measures include the implementation of ‘Op Selamat’ from March 29 to April 3, a temporary halt on roadworks along main routes from March 27 to April 7, and restrictions on heavy vehicles from March 29 to 30 and April 5 to 6,” he said during a briefing on PLUS preparations at Persada PLUS today.
Also present were PDRM Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department director Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri, Malaysian Highway Authority central region director Mohammed Ridzuan Jahidin, and Road Transport Department deputy director (operations) Tan Kim Loon.
To enhance traffic management during the festive season, Zakaria said PLUS will activate smart lanes at 28 congestion hotspots along its highways.
“This marks an increase of three smart lane locations compared with 25 during the recent Chinese New Year. Additional locations include the Putrajaya Ring Road Km3-Km4 (eastbound), Pedas Linggi-Senawang Km244-Km248.5 (northbound), and Tangkak-Jasin Km174-Km180.2 (northbound),” he added.
Additionally, over 5,000 PLUS personnel will be on duty, including 1,471 toll plaza staff, 60 traffic monitoring personnel, 413 patrol members, 3,570 maintenance staff at rest areas and lay-bys, 319 RELA members, and 50 Emergency Response Team members at key locations.
Meanwhile, Yusri said authorities have identified 25 hotspots and 46 black spots nationwide to mark crash-prone areas.
When asked about police deployment during the festive season, he said details would be announced during the Op Selamat launch on March 23.
— Bernama
